See Also: floor(1)(dictionary)
floor(2)(dictionary)
floor(encyclopedia)
Floor(money)
Floor(medicine)
first floor(dictionary)
Floor(finance)
sea floor(dictionary)
Floor ticket(finance)
Off floor order(finance)

floor(1) (iou)



floor noun.
[Old English flor, corresp. to (M)Du vloer, Middle High German vluor (German Flur), Old Norse flor, from Germanic.]
I. A level structure in a house or other building.
The layer of boards, bricks, tiles, stones, etc., covering the base of a room or other compartment; the lower surface of a room. Also in extended usage, the base of a cavity, etc. OE.
J. Tyndall The stone floor was dark with moisture. G. Stein The parlour had a thick and flowered carpet on the floor.
b. fig. A minimum, esp. of prices or wages. M20.
Economist A floor of only 12 a week on the wages of British artists.
The lower surface of a set of rooms etc. extending on one level through a building; the set of rooms etc. on such a level; a storey. LME.
M. Girouard The second and third floors overhung the lower half of the house.
a. The framework or underside of the ceiling of a room etc., considered in relation to the compartment above. L16.
fig.: C. Bowen Then Caesar..Bounding his throne by Ocean, his fame by the firmament floor.
b. The framework or structure of joists etc. supporting the flooring of a room. E18.
P. Nicholson Floors in which bridging joists are used.
Nautical.
a. The deck. Only in 17.
b. The bottom of a vessel on either side of the keelson. Also, a floor-timber. E19.
spec. (passing into branch II).
a. The part of a legislative assembly which members sit in and speak from; the right to speak next in a debate. M18.
J. T. Story I remember my maiden speech on the floor of the House.
b. (The floor of) the part of a hall etc. used for dancing. M19.
c. (The floor of) a film or television studio where a programme etc. is shot. M20.
M. Kennedy I'll make a shooting script...It'll be something you can go on the floor with.
II. A level space.
An artificial platform or levelled space designed for a particular activity (and freq. with specifying word). OE.
threshing-floor: see THRESHING noun.
fig.: W. Cowper Where flails of oratory thresh the floor.
b. transf. The corn etc. laid on such a space for threshing; in the malting process, a batch of grain etc. laid at one time for steeping. LME.
A naturally level space or extended surface. Also (colloq. or dial.), the ground. LME.
L. Stephen Forests of pine rise steeply from the meadow floor. Times With the field drawn tight around the bat and catches being snapped up off the floor. N. Calder They lowered a camera to the ocean floor.
An area or region. rare. LME-E17.
Bacon Both of them..fill a whole Floare or Orbe vnto certaine Limits.
III. A surface as a foundation.
A surface on which something rests, a foundation. OE.
J. Smeaton The arches are..6 feet from the floor to the springer.
The stratum immediately beneath a seam of coal etc. M19.
T. H. Huxley Vegetable remains are also met with in rocks beneath the coal, forming what is called the floor.
IV. A layer.
A layer, a stratum; a horizontal course. E18.
J. Ray Many Beds or Floors of all kinds of Sea-Shells.
A unit of measurement used in embankment work, usu. equal to a volume 18 or 20 feet square by one foot deep. Now rare or obsolete. E18.
Phrases: cross the floor join the opposing side of an assembly. first floor: see FIRST. from the floor (of a question, statement, etc.) given by an individual member at a meeting etc., as opp. to a representative of the platform etc. ground floor: see GROUND noun. mop the floor with slang = wipe the floor with below. PELVIC floor. second floor: see SECOND adjective. take the floor (a) begin to dance on a dance-floor etc.; (b) N. Amer. speak in a debate. third floor: see THIRD adjective & noun. wipe the floor with slang inflict a humiliating defeat on, crush.
Comb.: floorboard noun & verb (a) noun a board forming a section of the floor of a room etc.; (b) verb trans. (US slang) press (the accelerator pedal) down as far as possible, drive fast; floorcloth a cloth used for washing floors; floor-lamp N. Amer. a standard lamp; floor-leader US the leader of a party in a legislative assembly; floor-length adjective reaching to the floor; floor manager (a) a person in charge of a floor; esp. a shop-walker; (b) the stage-manager of a television production; floor-mop: see MOP noun2 1; floor plan the diagram of a floor, esp. one showing the rooms etc. on one storey of a building; floor-polish a manufactured substance for making floors glossy; floor show an entertainment presented on the floor of a restaurant, nightclub, etc., as opp. to on a stage; floor-timber Nautical each of the parts of the ship's timbers which are placed immediately across the keel; floor-walker US a shopwalker.
floorage noun (rare) a number of floors, an amount of flooring M18.
floorless adjective M19.